In the SEC, the overall sentiment is the conference is competitive to the point where the majority of contests are decided by a critical sequence.
Florida has seen more than its fair share — who could forget Will Grier’s pass to Antonio Callaway against Tennessee, or Austin Appleby’s 98-yard touchdown pass to Tyrie Cleveland at LSU?
In both of the team’s losses this season, the Gators have been within several plays of altering the result, but they haven’t seen a late play define the outcome. The Tigers, who come into Gainesville looking to once again play spoiler on Homecoming, have accepted defeat on the final play in multiple instances in 2018, the most recent of which came this past Saturday in the team’s 15-14 loss to Kentucky. The Wildcats rallied from a 14-3 deficit before winning on an untimed down on the final play in Columbia, Missouri. And several weeks earlier, the Tigers played one of the more eccentric games this season in a different Columbia.
In a game featuring multiple weather delays and a mud-soaked field, Missouri held a 35-34 lead over South Carolina with 1:18 left to play. But Gamecocks QB Michael Scarnecchia led a 53-yard drive to set up Parker White’s 33-yard game-winning field goal.
So, although the Tigers arrive winless in SEC play and with a 4-4 overall record, things could just as easily have gone much differently. As such, those in charge of UF’s preparation are imploring the team to regard the Tigers as if they have six wins as well.
“They lost on the last play of the game and at South Carolina in the pouring rain it was the last play of the game. Every game they haven’t been successful, but they’ve been in till the end,” Florida offensive line coach John Hevesy said. “They’re going to fight. Last season, where they started off not very well and won six straight. They learned how to fight, and when you see them on film that’s exactly who they are. They’re tough kids that play hard.”
Hevesy is spot on that Missouri finished on a high note after a mid-October loss to Georgia in 2017. Now, if UF hopes to do the same, they’ll have to go through a team that’s been there and done that.
“We understand that we’re going to have to play well, and you know it’s really about being a physical team. It’s about preparation, it’s about attention to detail, making sure that we hone in on the little things to make sure we can be exact in what we’re doing,” Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said, “because when you face a team as talented as they are, you got to make sure that you got everything covered from the standpoint of knowing what to do, how to do it and getting ready to play. So we understand that we got to play, and they’re pretty talented.”
Missouri also played UGA pretty tough and lost control of the game because of unforced errors — similarly to the Gators. It was a one score game until Missouri gave UGA a TD on a blocked punt toward the end of the first half. Missouri lost by two scores having given UGA the ball THREE times. As stated in the article, they are two last second plays away from being 6-2. On the other hand, UF won two games by a score and only beat Vandy by 10 points (although I admit, that final score against LSU makes the game look like it was closer than it really was). This is the hardest game remaining on UF’s regular schedule. I really hope the players get the message that this is not a team to trifle around with.
NO SC is the hardest game left on their schedule, just look at their record, it clear!
Lol, I really hope that cancel against Marshall does not cost them their shot at a bowl.. They need two more wins to guarantee it and they have a complete toss up at Ol Miss Saturday that seems to be their highest chance to get one of them.
Given that Missouri is bringing to Gainesville pretty much the same team that crushed Florida last year – and Florida is led by the same average quarterback, seems to me Florida should be the underdog in this game and better be on a mission.
Different year, different coaching staff and different venue. The only thing Mizzou has over us is the QB and if our QB keeps giving the ball away then you may be right and we may lose this game.
Our largest asset this year is swampfield advantage. Its huge and is what won us the LSU game!
I’m pretty sure what actually won the LSU game was relentless defense. 5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, held them to 4-17 on 3rd down conversions, and had 3 turnovers. They could’ve been playing in Death Valley and still won with that kind’ve defense. As we’ve seen in both losses, this team is going to live and die by how they play defense, no matter where they’re playing. Home field advantage certainly helped, but seeing that LSU didn’t have a single false start penalty, I don’t think it really had that much of an impact on that game. Burrow seemed to be more affected by the pass rush than the noise.
If we play as we did in the LSU game we will win, if not then we’ll lose. Hopefully we will practice hard this week and be ready to play. GO GATORS!!!!!!! Good Day……………….
We never play well against these guys. We will be lucky to win this.
I for one am far more nervous about this game than I was Georgia. We had a lot more motivation, well all of us except rod Stewart. I was wrong last week maybe I will be wrong this week too and we will have everyone play and win
We will have Henderson and Stewart back, thats huge!